Wizcrafts

I have owned a lot of walking foot machines and none had smooth feed dogs. But, Consew did offer a smooth rubber feed dog at one point in time. They may or may not still have them for sale. All of my upholstery grade compound/triple feed machines took the standard type 111 (as in Singer 111w) feet and most of them are smooth bottomed. The few that do have teeth are usually zipper and edge binding sets, or specialty feet for marine sewing projects. In contrast, most of the dual feed walking foot machines (top and bottom driven) I've encountered only had toothed feet available. This gives the best traction when sewing vinyl and slippery or very long items. But, it eats leather for breakfast unless you back way off on the pressure spring. Now, onto the 441s you asked about. The top name brands of 441 clones targeted at leathercrafters all come fitted with smooth presser feet and feed dogs. This is a departure from the original version of the Juki TSC-441. Originally, it was targeted at the buffing wheel and ballistic materials market, where teeth were an advantage. Now that these machines have been hijacked by us leather sewers, smooth feet and feed dogs are in great demand. Only the off-brand 441 machines still ship with teeth on the feet and feeder. These are the no-name drop shipped machines that come to you directly from China. In case you were going to ask, the Cobra, Cowboy and Techsew 441 clones ship with a set of so called blanket feet and matching large feeder, all of with have aggressive teeth. They are great for sewing buffing wheels!

Mods can't alter the folder structure of the forum. We can move posts, merge them, lock them and delete them. But, I like your idea about having a new sub-directory for reference material. I'll toss it around with Johanna when I get time.

That paddle shaped spring has a very important job. It is supposed to hold the top thread in place as the needle reaches bottom dead center and lifts briefly to form the loop for the hook to pick off. Without that spring, or with a deformed or weak spring, the take-up lever's top-mounted leaf spring can pull the thread back up through the needle bar, dissolving the loop before it can get picked off by the hook.

It will come out the top if you remove the needle clamp (on the bottom of the bar), and the take-up lever and its plunger, which is otherwise in the way on top.

In my unpleasant experience, you have to remove the needle bar to get to those screws. Further, once removed, set them down apart on the left and right so you can reinstall them into the same positions (they often get shaped to clear the inside of the housing).

Bob Kovar posted some photos last year of the back of veg-tan leather sewn on a CB2500, before and after he smoothed it with a teaspoon. The results weren't that bad for the money. He also has an optional roller foot for these machines. The design is an outgrowth of the ancient Singer 45k machines.

See if you can get a 45mm (1.75") or 50mm (2") pulley that will fit the shaft on your motor. This will give you a boost in torque and reduction in speed. You will need a slightly longer belt to reach the smaller pulley (~1" - 2" longer).

ObjectMaker; I don't usually recommend these machines, but, since you're in Ohio, if you go to Ryan O'Neal or Bob Kovar's shops, ask them to show you a CB2500. Ryan used to sell them as the Neal's #5 Machine. The reason I don't mention them much is because they are bottom feeders only and have huge teeth. If your horse tack won't need to be perfect on the bottom, the 2500 will do. The main pluses are that these machines can sew up to 7/16" of leather and that they use larger sizes of thread, ranging from #138 up to #415. The third plus is that they generally sell between $995 and $1395, plus shipping, complete with a table, motor and 3:1 speed reducer. If tooth marks on the bottom cannot be tolerated, you'll need to move up to at least the CB3200, which sews up to 1/2 inch, with thread sizes 138 through 415. It normally sells for $1695, plus shipping. It has a totally smooth feed dog, just like its bigger brothers.

What type and wattage motor do you have now? What is the diameter across the motor's pulley? Ditto for the machine pulley?

I have a similar Kenmore zig-zag machine at home and it uses the standard domestic needle System HAx1. They are sold at Walmart, Joann Fabrics and everywhere home sewing machines and fabrics are sold.

I use "Leather Tape", made by Venture, in various widths, to secure pieces of leather for sewing. It is very strong, almost as good as contact cement (but more like aggressive rubber glue). You should use titanium needles to sew through this tape to avoid gumming up the eye and shaft. Venture Tape is sold by Wawak and other big suppliers.

I order my separating brass zippers from ZipperStop, Zipper Shipper, Wawak and Ohio Travelbag, as well as miscellaneous eBay sellers if I only need one. Wawak has the best prices unless you are buying large quantities. I only order YKK zippers, period.

I have both filed/sanded/polished the edges and elongated the mounting holes of my various throat plates. Some are Cowboy, others Cobra and one was custom made in a machine shop. I don't just move them sideways to position the needle in the center. I do it to establish the left side to allow hardware or drop shapes to pass by close on the left edge of the plates.

Lol, the jumping of the presser bar is probably caused by an off-axis hole bored into the top tension adjuster bolt. Just loosen the lock nut and rotate the adjuster a little until the presser bar moves freely.

First, needlebar mounted thread guides position the top thread inside the rib along the side of the needle. In your case, it's the left side that has the rib. Second, by feeding the thread through this guide you keep it vertically aligned as it feeds down and through the eye of the needle. This reduces the amount of left deflection that tends to happen as you sew. The tighter the tensions, the greater the pull to the left as the needle goes in and out of the material.

It's the pendulum effect that shortens the stitch length at higher distances above the feed dog. The needlebar pivots at the top of the machine. The greater the distance to the work, the longer the stitches and vice versa.

A lot of potential buyers avoid the Models 27/127 & 28/128, because of the funky bobbins they use. The long cylindrical aftermarket bobbins available from the Orient don't have end holes for securing the starting thread. So, winding a bobbin is an art form in itself.

I've only had two of these machines and sold them for $200 each, with a Singer carrying case. You can scrounge through antiques stores to see if anything like these show up. I see lots of other models of Singer sewing machines in the booths surrounding our shop (I am located inside a huge antiques mall).

The poster, Mockingbird, is in Japan, as is listed in the bottom of their on-page profile.

I'm glad you got a working American Straight Needle machine and have put it to good use. I did misread your initial post late at night when I made my reply that began the firestorm with the New York Feminist.

Since you woke up this old topic from 2011, I will answer your question about the thickness a Singer 128 can sew. In mid-2016, I sold both a Singer 27 and a 128 from my shop. Both of those machines were from the turn of the 20th Century and sewed perfectly on denim after I did my magic with them. The feed dogs are really aggressive on these machines. This helps feed difficult material, like veg-tan leather belts with smooth or pasted backs. I was curious about their capacity too, so I brought the 1902 Model 27 into the work area, wound the bobbin with #69 bonded nylon thread and threaded the rest through the top tension path. I let the stitch length knob out for the maximum feeder travel inside the throat plate cutout, giving me 5 to the inch. Then I grabbed a spare piece of 9-10 ounce Q-Tan bridle leather and tried hand wheeling into it. The Sumbitch sewed the bridle leather like butter and fed it without dragging (because of the large teeth on the bottom). I plugged in the aftermarket motor and after starting it with a quick spin with my hand, the machine sewed by its own power. I did fishtails and circles, sewed back over existing stitches (Poor Man's Reverse) and it didn't miss even one stitch. The Model 128 did just as well. Both machines were portables in wooden Singer carry cases. I've bought and sold dozens of old domestic sewing machines, but none could match the Models 27 and 128 for sewing 10-12 ounces of bridle leather (that was as thick as they could sew and hold down the leather). I I did manage to get the Model 27 to sew with #92 thread on top, using a #18 leather point needle, but had to crank down the foot pressure spring all the way to keep the leather from lifting with the needle.

Check with local upholstery and shoe repair shops, as well as your local Craigslist for an industrial (aka: "commercial") walking foot machine with compound (triple) feed, setup on a 20" x 48" industrial table, with either a servo or clutch motor (which you can replace with a more controllable servo motor for about $150). Often times, these repair shops sell off old machines when they buy newer ones. Your $400 to $600 should get you a 30 to 60 year old sewing machine capable of sewing a quarter inch of veg-tan leather with no more than #138 bonded nylon thread. If you want something more modern and capable, plan on paying at least $1000, before shipping.

You can't bury the lockstitch knots from #415 thread in leather thinner than about 12 to 14 ounces. Light colors and white thread will fold easier than dark blue and black thread. So, you might could bury the knots of white #415 in as little as 10 ounces, if the tensions and holes are perfect. The reason you cannot equate hand sewing thread to machine sewn thread is because with hand sewing you usually do a saddle stitch with two needles sewing over and under. There are no knots to bury and the stitches look perfect on both sides. In contrast, 0.8mm bonded thread that forms a lockstitch knot will have a working diameter of up to 1.6mm and will require a #26 or 27 needle to poke a wide enough hole to allow the knots to be pulled up sufficiently into the leather.

I do a lot of zipper replacements in a variety of goods, in my commercial leather shop. here's my 2 cents worth... I try to choose the best zipper for the project. When I replace a wrap-around, double pull zipper in a small pouch, I prefer a #5 plastic coil zipper. Ditto for money belt zippers. Jeans typically use short brass #5 zippers. Light weight jackets and blazers are fine with a #5 zipper of any material. But, heavy weight leather jackets are best fitted with a #7 metal tooth zipper. Very heavy items and items under a lot of stress along the zip line will benefit from a #10 zipper retrofit. I either match the color of the original zipper and tape, or ask the customer if they mind if I choose, based on what I have in stock, or have easy access to. In most cases, I use YKK zippers and pulls. They are the most reliable and long lasting whether made of plastic coil or formed Vislon, aluminum, nickle, or brass. If only the pull is bad, but the zipper is not a YKK, I will try a Zlide-on (see below *), or else I must replace the entire zipper set. For this I usually charge a long wheelbase 5. If the zipper is very long, as in a rifle bag tarp or tent, my price goes up exponentially. You can purchase bulk zipper tape in various size rolls from Ohio Travelbag (OTB), Wawak and ZipperStop. If the tape and teeth are okay but the pull won't close the teeth, a zipper plier can be used on the back of the zipper to close the gap until the teeth merge again. You can buy this tool from Wawak or OTB. It resembles a common nickle finish pair of pliers, but there is a wide open gap in the center of the teeth on both jaws. This gap lets the teeth grab the rear sides of the zipper without hitting the pull tab or its mounting bracket. I've saved many a zipper for customers when all that was wrong was the pull needed a little clamping down. It can give the owner a lease on life of the zipper at a very low cost (beer money). European garments may have the separating zipper pull on the left, rather than the right side, which is typical in the USA. You will probably not be able to find left hand pulls mounted on separating jacket zippers. If the zipper is a #5, you should be able to sew it in backwards to place the pull on the left. Some zippers will allow this, while others will warp and fight the pull all the way up and down. If a pull has stopped closing the teeth and clamping down on the back of it doesn't fix it, you can buy Zlide-on* zipper pulls from Ohio Travelbag. They can be popped open to slide them over the teeth, then clamped down to lock them into the path. Zlide-ons are life savers for a zipper repair person. In addition to stocking a wide range of Zlide-ons, you can buy a zipper repair kit containing numerous pulls, end stops and closure brackets. I got mine from OTB. They also sell special pliers to install the little end stops. I usually keep about a hundred zippers and replacement pulls in stock and bags upon bags of end and closure stops, in various colors. ZIppers can be a bonus service and a good money maker for a leather shop.

I use System 794 diamond/tri point needles when I sew closer than 6 stitches per inch on my Cowboy. I get them from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. The stitches lay inline like the S points, but are less likely to filigree the leather. Also, the exit wound is more rounded and it is easier to pull up the knots in very thick stacks of leather. I used a #25 diamond point to sew a 7/8 inch thick holster last year. The S point was cutting the thread.